In class I read two comics, MU The Lost Planet, and Bizarre Sex: A giant penis attacks New York. Overall, I really love the breadth and depth (or sometimes lack thereof) – of the topics covered in both of these comics. MU is a high fantasy comic, with a semi-serious tone. The story centers around two ancient civilizations, and the struggle for power and control over these technologically advanced worlds. The tone of Bizarre Sex was quite a bit different, and starts of with a story about a werewolf sitting on a dock and using a bucket of severed penises to catch a mermaid, which he then hacks in half and carries off to presumably eat. Ultimately I think its really awesome that there was a form of media that could handle both the fantastically epic, and terrifyingly bizarre.
It was definitely interesting learning about how far we’ve come as a culture when it comes to the stereotypical representations used in early comics and other forms of media, especially in terms of race, sexuality, gender and ethnicity. To me, despite the current cultural climate of dissatisfaction, I think that we’ve come pretty far as a culture in one lifetime. It actually seems like we’re probably pushing the limit for the amount of change and adjustment that some people can make to their worldview in one lifetime, without completely plunging them and the culture into a state of mass anxiety and hysteria. That being said, I wish we would have acknowledged that in class in a more positive way, and approached this topic in the lecture from a more reassuring perspective - especially in today’s current media-fueled maddening political climate. It would have been refreshing to hear about this topic from the perspective that the changes we need to make as a culture, have already happ...
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